My Lamma Forums

[zep]

Summer is not a good time for bird-watching on Lamma. There are no interesting visitors like in winter, or passage migrants like in Spring and Autumn. Just the usual common resident species.

Following in Lammagung's footsteps, maybe this is a good time to introduce a Bird Quiz for the edification of interested laypersons and the derision of Fight Club combatants.

Can you identify and name these common resident species. All of them are to be found all the year round on Lamma.

1. This is common and noisy, and can be recognised by the white patch on the back of the head.



2. This is a relative of no. 1, but has a crest and red-and-white face pattern. Also common and noisy.



3. A small black and white bird with a very sweet song. In the female the black is replaced by a dull greyish colour.



4. Mostly black with a stubby crest just behind the bill. White patches on the wings are visible in flight.



5. One of the commonest birds here, but not often seen. It is very tiny, and usually keeps hidden in the undergrowth, but has a loud “cheep, cheep, cheep” call.



6. Constantly seen flying lazily looking for carrion. A large bird of prey with a diagnostic forked tail.



7. Usually seen on rooftops or otherwise close to human residence.



8. Quite a large black and white bird with a long tail usually seen in pairs here. Also common in Europe.



9. Can be recognised by rich brownish colouring, long tail and noisy flapping of the wings as it takes off.



10. A noisy black and white bird with a patch of yellow skin round the eye. Usually in small flocks.

[Guy MIller]

7. = Tree Sparrow

[Guy MIller]

9. tis a spotted dove

[mrsLawless]

Is number 2 a crested bulbul?

[chocolate starfish]

6 a black eared kite

[chocolate starfish]

2 red-whiskered bulbul

[Guy MIller]

# 1 - does male also have a crest - have a nesting pair outside my living room window with a couple of chicks in the nest as we type

[yaffle]

1. Chinese Bulbul
2. Crested Bulbul
3. Magpie Robin
4. Mynah
5. Long tailed tailor bird
6. Black-eared kite
7.Tree sparrow
8. Magpie
9. Spotted Dove
10. Pied Starling

[Guy MIller]

10. Not a Black Collared Starling?

[frenchfancy]

...

[zep]

I'll have to check the key, but unfortunately I seem to have mislaid it.

Has anyone seen my bag? I last saw it in Dr Freud's waiting room. I recall Nurse Zimmerman approaching, but after that everything went blank.

It is a brownish rucksack bearing the logo of the Gateshead Trainspotting Club partially obscured by Cattle Egret faeces. It contained a spare anorak and the answers to the Top Ten Lamma Bird Quiz.

[yaffle]

[chocolate starfish]

Is there a prize for biggest swat / teacher's pet?

[zep]

No prizes, but research proves that being aware and knowledgable about your environment, including a subtle appreciation of the living things it contains, improves your health and happiness, reduces stress, extends life expectancy and even enhances sexual function (or is that viagra, I forget, anyway...)

The full list is as Yaffle has already identified them. I add latin names here, not just as a matter of pedantry, but there is often a confusing array of common names for the same bird, and the Latin name is the unique identifier.

1. Chinese Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)
2. Crested Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)
3. Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)
4. Crested Mynah (Acridotheres cristatellus)
5. Long-tailed Tailor Bird (Orthotomus sutorius)
6. Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
7. Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
8. Magpie (Pica pica)
9. Spotted Dove (Streptipelia chinensis)
10. Black-necked Starling (Sturnus nigricollis)

Some people would argue that our no 6 is a separate species, the black-eared kite Milvus lineatus, separate from the one seen over the rest of Asia and Africa, but the jury is still out

.

[Foxy]

Talking of sparrows, around 95% of sparrows in the UK are house sparrows; in HK most are tree sparrows. Sparrows are a ring species. Apparently, there’s a town in Russia where the ratio of tree to house sparrows is 50:50. Something to do with niche displacement. Ring species are also seen in gulls, warblers and other species. Perhaps your man at HKU knows more about it, Zep.

[Anonymous Guy]

Locally taken photo of the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)...

Spotted Doves are native to India and Southeast Asia.
Doves are unique from other birds as they drink by sucking, so they don't have to tilt their heads back to swallow.
They are found singly or in pairs, seldom in flocks.

Adults: Length 28-33 cm.

Color: Light gray head; head and breast cinnamon grey; black nape with white spots; dark cinnamon-gray back broadly streaked with black; buffy chest and belly; bill black; feet red. Pale brown wing coverts contrast with dark flight feathers. In flight, long blunt tail looks black with flashy white tips. Juveniles lack collar on hindneck.

Breeding: monogamous nests all year, 1-2 white eggs Courting behavior of the male is a rhythmic bowing. To advertise his nesting site, a male performs a flight display of a steep climb accompanied by loud wing claps followed by a downward swoop in a circular dive with stiff wings and fanned tail.

Nesting: Nest is a flimsy stick platform of twigs, grasses and roots in a tree, tall bush, or on a building, often quite low. 11-15 cm in diameter and shallow, 2-3 cm deep.

Incubation: 14 days. Both parents brood young. Both tend to the young and provide a very rich substance called pigeon milk for the chick’s first six or seven days. The next week food for the chick is regurgitated seeds and grain.

Fledging: 14-16 days As soon as the young leave the nest, a new clutch is begun.

Voice: low coo-croo-coo; soft te-croo-croo; three note coo-coo-croo with emphasis on last note.

Lifespan: 1-4 years in the wild; reported as up to 20.

Diet: seeds and grains. Forages on the ground.

Habits: solitary to paired, non-migratory but known to expand range as territories fill.

Habitat: Suburban, parks, gardens, dense trees for nesting, areas with available grit.

Threats: preyed upon by cats. They are easily harmed by pesticides and herbicides.

[zep]

Nice shot - I've never managed anything more than a blackish dot with my camera, so look forward to some more tele-zoom bird shots. There are some great young Chinese bird photographers in the HKBWS, and some of their stuff can be viewed at:

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/frame.html

[zep]

I've also just noticed Foxy's posting about ring species. I don;'t know much about this, but I've copied a definition etc from mark Ridley's "Evolution." As fdar as I know, all the sparrows here are of the Aisan Tree sparrow variety - no house sparrows.

*******************

What is a ring species?

A ring species is a situation in which two populations which do not interbreed are living in the same region and connected by a geographic ring of populations that can interbreed. Famous examples of ring species are the herring and lesser black-backed gulls in northern Europe (pictured opposite) and the Ensatina salamanders of the West Coast of the USA.

A ring species can be best imagined like this:

Imagine a species that is geographically distributed in a straight line from east to west across America: it is possible that the forms in the east and west are so different that they could not interbreed. Now imagine taking the line and bending it into a circle, such that the end points (formerly in the east and west) come to overlap in space.

If they do not interbreed then the geographic distribution of the species will be in the shape of a ring, and they will be 'ring species': the extreme forms do not interbreed in the region of overlap. A ring species has an almost continuous set of intermediates between two distinct species, and these intermediates happen to be arranged in a ring. At most points in the ring, there is only one species; but there are two where the end-points meet.

[Guy MIller]

[Hilda]

Locally taken photo of the Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)...

Classification: Family Muscicapidae (which also includes Thrushes, Flycatchers, Chats).

Magpie Robins are native across the Asian subcontinent from Pakistan to the Philippines, Borneo and Java.

Adults: Length 20-23cm.

Color:
Male: Black head, breast and upperparts; underparts white; tail black with white outer feathers; bold white wingbars.
Female: Back upperparts and breast replaced by dull dark grey.
Juvenile: As in the adult but with mottled brown breast

Diet: Magpie Robins have a varied diet of fruits and animals but are particularly fond of insects and worms. They forage in trees as well as on the ground, where they hop with their tail raised. They also sip nectar.

Breeding: Magpie Robins breed in January to June. Males court females with hearty song, usually at dawn and dusk, moving their tails up and down in tune. They can be very territorial during breeding.

Nesting: They build their nests almost anywhere from thick shrubs, in the fork of branches of small trees, palms (at the base of the palm frond), hollow trees and even near human habitation: under a veranda, in a hole in the wall, in an old tin can, etc. Nests are usually built low. Their nests are large, untidy, shallow cups loosely made from grass or dried leaves, twigs, moss, roots. These are lined with fibres or grass. 3-5 eggs are laid, pale blue or greenish with brown or purple spots.

Incubation: The female incubates, but both raise the young.

Voice: Magpie Robins have a delightful varied song and are said to be able to imitate the calls of other birds. They are sprightly and lively, often cocking their long tails. They are easy to spot as they are not shy and sing from exposed perches. Sometimes, they may abruptly sing at night!

Habits: Non-migratory

Habitat: They prefer open areas such as mangroves, gardens, cultivated areas. They are not found in the deep forest.

Threats: Illegal trapping for the cage-bird trade, competition from the better-adapted Mynas (Acridotheres spp.) and loss of their favoured habitats: mangroves and rural areas.